FBI Director: Fewer Americans Leaving US to Join ISIS

While the US has never had particularly good intelligence on the actual numbers of people doing so, FBI Director James Comey today claimed that far fewer Americans are going abroad to join ISIS, saying the FBI only see “about one per month.”

Comey’s claims mirror those of Pentagon officials who say they believe ISIS recruitment internationally is on the decline, and Comey insisted that he has “no doubt” something is diminishing the attractiveness of ISIS to would-be recruits.

Despite the claims that they have almost no one going abroad to join ISIS, Comey still insisted the FBI has “north of 1,000” active cases in which FBI agents are evaluating Americans for “potential” radicalization.

The FBI is regularly announcing “plots” foiled by these investigations, though more often than not they involve the FBI providing a fake bomb to a suspect and then arresting him for possession of the fake bomb.